Animal Planet's
"Finding Bigfoot," one of the network's all-time top-performing series, is heading into its third season in November with 11 new episodes and two specials during which its team of investigators continues to search for Sasquatch. But with shows like this and the network's
speculative documentary "Mermaids: The Body Found," some wonder whether Animal Planet may be hurting its reputation with such outlandish concepts.

"We spend a lot of time talking to our audience," she says. "The audience has voted with their remotes."

The "Mermaids" docudrama led to a great deal of confusion among some viewers who thought it was the real deal. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration even
released an official statement on the matter.

"No evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found. Why, then, do they occupy the collective unconscious of nearly all seafaring peoples? That's a question best left to historians, philosophers, and anthropologists," the organization writes.

"You can't equate bigfoot with mermaids," says Bigfoot Field Research Organization (BFRO) team member James "Bobo" Fay, who's known for his loud bigfoot calls.